You guys crack me up
I know I can climb on pole gaffs for a while. Thick bark tree will be tricky, but as long as I dig in hard I should be OK.
And that unless you're on the vertical face of a trunk , or a limbless stem, you're generally moving about without the assistance of the spikes. Pole climbers, differing only in that they have a shorter gaff length, it seems it would be asier to get around, in general, and seemingly while vertically pasted, they could minimize the 'equal and opposite reaction', or the force of the top of the legware into the inside of your knee area. Also, moving about in general, less length to gaff your own self.
This brings up my worst fear of all time, worse than electricity, lightning, falling.... my biggest paranoia in the working life is
GAFFING MYSELF THROUGH THE ACHILLES TENDON. I feared this the very first time a pair went around my lower leg. This makes me a climber who went spikeless pretty much out of the box.
The gaffs I own now, I got new with good pads, not the Caddy Pads, but maybe more akin to a Subaru Forester Pad. Anyway, the set came with two
left pads. By flipping a left pad around you can get it to do it's job on the right side. I've never called Buckingham to get an exchange because I don't spend a lot of time with them. Is that retarded, or what? ALMOST as retarded as sticking frickin women's feminine paddage to your frickin gourd. But that is only imo. I will giggle when I think of you removing your helmet to talk to a client, and forgetting that you've got a Freakin MaxiFresh pasted across your receding hairline.....